This book had its shining moments, and the underlying story, or backstory, was actually pretty great, but I didn't believe that it was presented all that well. Serge too was good, not great, and Coleman was more annoying than usual.

The backstory turns out to be fairly simple, and I loved that. But to get there the story was all over the place. As I mentioned above, I don't think the narrative did it justice, nor, ultimately, the amazing cast of characters. It took forever, until the very end, to see how it was all tied together; if this was a whodunit then maybe that would have worked, but in this case just made the story over-the-top wacky.

I liked that Serge went to California and took his arcane movie history to Hollywood. I thought all of that was well presented, and taking a jab at the esoteric lifestyle surrounding the film industry was also very good.

In any case, we still get some vintage Dorsey through the eyes of Serge like...

************

A '71 Buick Riviera was stuck in a sea of traffic on U.S. 192. A hundred cars moving a few blocks a time, traffic light to traffic light, all red.

The light turned green. A minute later, the Riviera began moving slowly. The same light turned red again.

Serge smacked the steering wheel. "I can't tell you how crazy this kind of traffic makes me. Why are all these people going this way?"

Coleman drained a beer and crumpled the can. "We're going this way, too."

"But they're making lifestyle mistakes. We're driving for truth."

[And.]

The Chrysler made a pair of lefts. The black Grand Marquis remained a half-dozen lengths back. Serge raced up an entrance ramp to the freeway. He slammed to a stop.

Coleman grabbed the dash. "What happened?"

Serge pointed up beside the car. "Ramps in California have traffic lights."

************

It has been so long since I had to navigate through hell that I had totally forgotten that some people actually accept living in places that put traffic lights on the interstate entrance. Lifestyle mistakes to the Nth degree. And I always thought the same as Serge watching people parked on the I405, I have always wondered why the people that go north in the morning didn't find jobs in the south, and vise verse. Nope that would make too much effing sense.... ( )

Serge and Coleman go to Hollywood

Like Carl Hiaasen, Tim Dorsey has created some of the quirkiest, most absurd and funniest characters in book history. Like Hiaasen, Dorsey's writing is hilarious. Unlike Hiaasen, however, I think this one story is plenty enough for me. The book was like someone with ADHD on speed. It moved like lightning and never slowed down. Ever. Serge Storms is exhausting and I do not need to go any further. Honestly, the only reason I finished this book is that George K. Wilson is such an epic narrator. His flawless narration was awesome. I wonder if he reads any Hiaasen. ( )

One of the very few books that made me laugh out loud. Probably because I listened to it and the reader was fantastic. ( )

I think this is the weakest of this series so far, largely because it strays from Florida. California, especially Hollywood, is understood to be full of crazy people, but part of the charm of these books is the way Dorsey pulls real Florida characters and scenes and spins their internal craziness out into the "real world." I also felt that the plot depended way too much on Serge moving toward a single goal for way, way too long. He has the general attention span of a gnat, and while he does show some of his usual ping-pong behavior here, it is all while participating in a complicated interaction with lots of characters. While there is no doubt that Serge is smart enough and creative enough to pull this off, he would also change his mind and start an equally complex scheme to take over the world sun screen market after about four hours.

That said, and even that much of the plot isn't obvious until the last few pages of the novel, it's a wild, fun ride, and Serge is a homicidal hoot. ( )